VOA慢速英语: 美国老师到印度尼西亚参加“英语小额奖学金”计划

美国老师去印度尼西亚参加“英语小额奖学金”项目计划

Most people would agree that knowing English is important for moving up in school and also in the workplace. But millions of students in developing countries have little or no chance for a quality English language education.

多数人一致同意学习英语在学校和工作场所很重要。但是发展中国家的成千上百万人几乎没有接受高质量英语教育的机会。

This is especially true in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country. Indonesia has hundreds of languages and ethnic groups spread across thousands of islands. For most people, the Indonesian national language is also a second language.

特别是在世界上第四人口大国——印度尼西亚的情况也是如此。印度尼西亚成千上万个岛上有上百种语言和民族。对大多数人来说印度尼西亚语是第二语言。

But the nation’s young people are hungry to learn a third language: English. English can be heard in coffee shops and shopping malls in the capital, Jakarta. Many of Jakarta’s well-educated people mix English with Indonesian when talking with others. But outside of the city and the island of Bali, learning English can be a struggle. It is even more difficult for young people who come from poor families or live on far away islands.

但是印尼的年轻人热衷于学习第三语言：英语。在印尼的首都雅加达，咖啡店、购物商场都能听到人们讲英语。雅加达受教育水平高的人谈话时通常会把英语与印度尼西亚语夹杂着说，但是对别的城市和巴厘岛的人来说，学习英语就有点困难。对于来自贫困家庭和住在更偏远的岛上的年轻人来说，学习英语更困难。

Enter the English Access Micro scholarship Program -- an afterschool English class. Known simply as “Access,” the program receives money from the United States Department of State. Access provides two years of free English classes to needy young people around the world. One of the largest Access programs is in Indonesia --with about 1,000 students.

“英语小额奖学金项目计划”是个英语课后班。这个项目从美国国务部得到资金援助。这个项目计划为世界各地想学英语的年轻人提供两年的免费英语课程。其中最大的一个项目就是在印尼——大概有1000名学生。

Earlier this year, several American English teachers organized a series of English language summer camps across Indonesia. The teachers wanted to show that learning English could be fun.

今年早些时候，几个美国英语老师在印尼组织了一系列的英语夏令营活动。老师想告诉学生学习英语也会很有趣。

Alice Murray: “Students enjoy getting to know Americans firsthand and it provides the Americans an opportunity to really get to know the culture of the students and also to understand firsthand some of the problems that these kids and their families face in their communities.”

爱丽丝·马瑞说：“学生非常希望能够了解有关美国人的一手资料，这个项目为美国人提供一个机会来了解学生的文化，同时能够获得一手的资料来了解到这些孩子和他们的家庭在社群中面临的问题。”

For most of the Indonesian students, it was the first time they had ever met an American or spent a night away from home. Tabitha Kidwell helped plan the camp activities.

对大多数印尼学生来说，这是他们第一次看到美国人或者第一次在外住宿。泰贝莎·基德维尔帮助策划这个夏令营活动。

“They really enjoyed learning about multiculturalism in America. They love, of course, learning to make friendship bracelets and learning to play different American games. And they really enjoy the self-reflective workshops that we do too.

“他们真的喜欢学习美国的多元文化，当然，他们也学习跟美国人交朋友、玩不同的美国游戏。他们确实很喜欢自我反思的研讨会，我们也是如此。”

One of the most popular workshops was on American English pronunciations. Christy Lewis is an English Language Fellow from Tennessee.

最受欢迎的是美语的发音研讨会，克丽丝·里维斯是来自田纳西州的英语语言同仁。

“The workshop teaches the kids about the rhythm of the American English language and starts introducing them how to speak more native-like.”

“研讨会教孩子学习英语的韵律，而且教他们如何把英语讲的更地道。”

Lewis: “The kids go the camp. The kids go to the camp.”

里维斯：“这些孩子们去参加夏令营，孩子们去参加夏令营。”

Students: “The kids are going to the camp. The kids’ll be going to the camp. The kids’ll be going to the camp.”

学生：“孩子们要去参加野营，孩子们要去野营，孩子们就要参加野营。”

Bryan Holzer is from a small farm town in Wisconsin. He spoke with the Indonesian teenagers about the game of American football.

布莱恩·霍尔泽来自威斯康星州的一个小镇，他跟印尼的青少年讲美国足球。

“It’s interesting, at first when I showed them the ball they all said ‘rugby.’ But once I taught them about the rules, the basic idea of the sport they become more interested in American football. “

“跟他们讲课很有趣，第一次我给他们展示这个球时，他们都称之为‘橄榄球’但是我教给他们比赛规则、以及这项运动的基本观点后，他们开始对美式足球感兴趣。”

Lewis: “So one of things were do here in Indonesia is we sing a lot at our Access camps. The kids absolutely love to sing and they love learning new songs.”

里维斯：“在印尼我们的项目计划中，我们做的最多的就是唱歌。孩子们很喜欢唱歌，也喜欢学习新歌。”

Lewis: “Thumbs up!”

里维斯：“竖起大拇指！”

Students: “Thumbs up!

学生：“竖起大拇指！”

Lewis: “Elbows back!”

里维斯：“弯回胳膊！”

Students: “Elbows back!”

学生：“弯回胳膊！”

Together: “I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling I’m…”

齐唱：“我在雨中唱歌、仅仅在雨中唱歌，多美的感觉…”

The campers closed a long day of activities with a campfire.

露营者在一堆篝火旁结束一天的活动。

Faishal Zakaria is an English teacher from Banda Aceh in Indonesia’s Northwest. He studied in the United States on a Fulbright exchange program. He hopes the camp will motivate his students to dream big and be more open-minded.

Faishal Zakaria是名来自印尼西北部班达亚齐的英语老师。通过富布莱特交流计划，他到美国学习英语。他希望野营能够激发学生的梦想，让他们思想更开放。

“I see my lecturers, my teachers graduated from an American university and they talk about America, traveling here and there. And it really made me like, ‘if he can do it, I can do it.’ ‘Shoot for the moon, even if you fail, you land among the stars.’”

“我知道老师都是从美国大学毕业，他们谈论美国，四处旅行。这让我觉得‘如果他能做到，那我也能做到。’‘飞向月亮，即使错过，你还是可以着陆与星际之间。’”

The program was not just Americans teaching about US culture. The students also shared local songs and dances with the American teachers. On the eastern island of Ambon, students prepared an English translation of a favorite folk song.

这个项目计划不仅仅是美国人教学生美国文化，学生同样与美国老师分享他们当地的歌曲和舞蹈。在安文岛的东部，学生准备了一首他们最喜欢的民歌的英语翻译。

“I just want to tell you that we both are really brothers.

Sharing, caring each other is so very, very sweet . . .”

“我只是想告诉你我们都是兄弟，分享喜乐、关心彼此很甜蜜…….”

The camps lasted only three days. Yet some teachers noticed a change in their students during that period. Meutiati Ranty is a lecturer at the University of Indonesia. She helped plan the camps. She says one of the goals was to assist mutual understanding between Americans and Indonesians.

野营仅仅持续了三天，不过一些老师注意到这期间学生的变化，Meutiati Ranty是印尼一所大学的讲师，她帮助策划野营，她说组织野营的一个目标就是帮助增加美国人和印尼人的相互了解。

“Before the camps, the kids might have thought that Americans are difficult to approach. They are superior to others and they might have a negative opinion toward Muslims. But, through the experience during the camps, then they know that the Americans are just like them. Through the interactions during the camp, then they learn that Americans are very friendly, that what they thought earlier was wrong.”

“参加野营之前，孩子们也许觉得美国人很难接近，他们比别人高一等，甚至他们对穆斯林有负面评价。但是通过野营的经历，他们知道美国人也喜欢他们。通过相互交流，他们发现美国人很友好，先前的想法是错误的。”

Amin: “I want to thank Access because, honestly, before I joined Access, I really hate English. I always get remedial in my subject in my school about the English. And I don’t know. After I joined Access, I completely changed and I really don’t know why. But I like getting—I like English and I realize about how important that [is] for me.”

艾民：“我要感谢这个英语项目计划，说实话，先前我确实非常讨厌英语，在学校需要补习英语，但是不知道为什么，自从参加了这个英语项目后，我的想法就改变了，不知道为什么，但是我开始喜欢英语，意识到英语对我来说有多重要。”

To find out if there will be an Access class near you, contact the U.S. Embassy in your home country.

找一找你附近有没有“英语小额奖学金的项目计划”，在联系你本国的美国大使馆。

______________________________________________________________

Words in this Story

struggle – n. to try very hard to do, achieve, or deal with something that is difficult or that causes problems

needy – adj. not having enough money, food, etc., to live properly

self-reflective – adj. thoughtful about your own behavior and beliefs

rhythm –n. a regular, repeated pattern of sounds or movements